Elfin Forest and Lake Hodges Oil Paintings

Elfin Forest

Nasturtiums
9” x 12”
Oil

Live Oak Path
9” x 12”
Oil

Light at the End of the Day
9” x 12”
Oil

Path to the Lake
9” x 12”
Oil

Spring Leaves
30” x 40”
Oil

Cat Footed Fog Across the Lake
9” x 12”
Oil

Golden Slumbers
24” x 30”
Oil

Nature is Electric
9” x 12”
Oil - SOLD

Lake Hodges

Spring Meadow by the Lake
9” x 12”
Oil

Misty Morning
16” x 20”
Oil

Down and Around to Center
16” x 20”
Oil

Summer Light
9” x 12”
Oil - SOLD

Last Walk
16” x 20”
Oil

Moonlight on the Path
9” x 12”
Oil

Spring Light
9” x 12”
Oil - SOLD

Feedback from the Elfin Forest Interpretive Center Advisory Committee:

About three years ago the four members of the Advisory Committee for the Interpretive Center decided that we could manage the Center instead of an expensive consultant. None of us had experience in the field. But we believed that we could do it and make the Interpretive Center a place that would engage people in the watershed. It was a little daunting when you realize that we were responsible to our donors that had given us over $535,000, The Conservancy Board, and the Olivenhain Municipal Water District. Your art exhibit, art classes, and your wonderful way with people has honored our center and its success has given us new energy to carry forward. You validated part of the Centers mission that nature through the eyes of an artist connects with the visitor in a more effective way. Your exhibit was embraced by our new group of docents who enjoyed sharing it with our hundreds of visitors. James Hubbell, on a visit to the center in November, commented on your gift in the use of color and how it complemented the center. Most all of our major donors visited the Center to see your exhibit and expressed their appreciation to us. A very important group in our land acquisition efforts, the national representatives from The Environmental Fund from Boston, specifically requested a tour of the Center when your exhibit was on display. They loved the Center, its connection with the arts, and your work. The trip resulted in their commitment to future land acquisition projects by the Conservancy.

Cathy, thank you. We value your future involvement with us and look forward to our continued relationship.

Sincerely,

The Elfin Forest Interpretive Center Advisory Committee Jeff Swenerton, Jeff Anderson, Tim Costanzo, Lali Mitchell

Elfin Forest Reserve

I have had the opportunity to spend some extended time hiking and sketching, taking photos, and painting the Elfin Forest Reserve for the last few months. It is a beautiful place - the more I discover, the more fascinating it becomes. I was invited to show my work there in the fall of 2010. The paintings here are the beginning of that series.

The first thing I did to prepare for my show at the interpretive center, was to take my two Golden Retrievers, Zuni and Sazi for walks there. There was a bittersweet timing to this. My beloved ten year old Zuni had just that week been diagnosed with inoperable heart cancer. Her doctor said she could collapse at any moment, but was basically comfortable and could go about her life gently until the end came. I learned what living in the moment really meant that week. She only lived 8 days from the diagnosis, but every waking moment was devoted to spending happy time and not letting my grief spoil the little remaining time we had. She loved to walk, so we headed to the Elfin Forest for her last three days. We stayed along the creek as we couldn’t do the strenuous hill trails, but it was idyllic. To be out in the morning mist, with the birdsong and gurgling creek.

My style of painting is expressive, my painting scenes are based on emotion. I try to find the feeling and mood in the picture, not just what it looks like. I was taking pictures of everything, sketching and noticing all the light and shadows dancing across the path, the swinging frozen dance of the trees and the twinkling light flashing off the creek. The girls were basking in the sun shapes between shadows, and splashing at the edge of the creek, rooting around and rolling. For that time, all was right with the world. On the third day of our morning walks, back at home and right at sunset, Zuni passed from our lives. I spent the next few months returning to the Elfin Forest to walk with Sazi. I’d feel better being there, it was always fulfilling. In the paintings I am doing of the Elfin Forest I’m trying to capture the sense of joy and the fleeting sense of time I felt during those last walks. We were able to be there because groups like the Escondido Creek conservancy have been working to preserve these areas. The fleeting sense of time I felt also had to do with these vanishing natural areas. What happens when they’re gone? If this generation doesn’t pass along our love for nature, why would the next generation feel a need to preserve it? How would they even know what it’s like being in a setting like this?

And so just as I watched the winter forest renew and cover itself in spring, life keeps moving forward too. We got a new puppy for Sazi. In her grieving for Zuni she was losing her playful character, Seeing that was like losing her too. Now I take our new Golden puppy, Yogi, and Sazi to the Elfin Forest. Yogi is learning to walk on a leash there, testing the creek, not quite ready to get in. Sazi is herself again, but also a new side of her is emerging. She is now the older dog showing the ropes, being patient and sharing toys and people with someone new. She has a very generous spirit, which she learned from Zuni, and one day Yogi will be the one handing it down to the next generation.

Part of the mission of the Interpretive center is to invite and educate the public to experience nature and art and I will be teaching a workshop there May 8. I went on a tour in spring to scout locations for the class. The Yucca were blooming, bunches of little flowers, colorful bushes, the wild lilacs were fat with purple, and all the hills were furry with green spring. In the winter it was misty mornings burning off into soft sunny days or rainy drama. The spring started cool but will soon turn sunny and sharp, and the green hillsides will crisp into summer. And what will the fall hold? Will the abundance of growth this spring feed a wildfire? Exactly how BIG is Yogi going to get? And so life and nature keep growing, writing the next page, painting another layer of meaning.